Deliberations are expected to continue this week in the case of two accused leaders of a cartel-like gang that prosecutors say operated for years in San Diego County.

Juan Francisco Estrada Gonzalez, who prosecutors said led the Los Palillos drug-trafficking gang, is shown in San Diego Superior Court in 2013.

John Gibbins

Juan Francisco Estrada Gonzalez, who prosecutors said led the Los Palillos drug-trafficking gang, is shown in San Diego Superior Court in 2013.

Juan Francisco Estrada Gonzalez, who prosecutors said led the Los Palillos drug-trafficking gang, is shown in San Diego Superior Court in 2013. (John Gibbins)

The jurors, who were selected in January and February, began their work Wednesday afternoon in San Diego Superior Court and are expected to resume Monday morning.

The marathon criminal trial is expected to be one of the longest in county history.

Prosecutors contend that the defendants — Jorge Rojas Lopez and Juan Francisco Estrada Gonzalez — were the bosses of a criminal organization called Los Palillos that has been linked to a series of local killings and kidnappings between 2004 to 2007.

Rojas is accused of being the top leader of the drug-trafficking crew — Boss No. 1 — while Estrada, is believed to have been his second in command, prosecutors said.

If they are convicted, a second phase of trial would begin in which the jury would be asked to decide whether to recommend the defendants’ executions or life in prison without parole.

Rojas and Estrada, both 34, are already serving life in prison without parole on kidnapping convictions.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador, lead prosecutor in the case, argued to the jury that the men conspired with other members of the gang to pull off nine killings and several kidnappings for ransom.

“This unprecedented savagery and carnage cannot stand,” Amador said during his closing argument, which lasted several days.

Many of the victims either had, or were perceived to have had, ties to the Arellano Félix drug cartel in Tijuana. Bodies were found in abandoned cars or dumped along roadsides. Some were dissolved in vats of acid and buried near a horse corral in San Ysidro.

One of the bodies left to decompose in a car on a Clairemont street had toothpicks sprinkled around it, which Amador has described as the group’s calling card.

Los Palillos is Spanish for “toothpicks.”

The name is a reference to Rojas’ brother, Victor Rojas Lopez, who ran a crew for the Arellano Félix Organization in Mexico, but was killed by the cartel in November 2002. Victor Rojas was known as “El Palillo.”

After that, the members of Los Palillos fled Mexico and set up shop in San Diego and Kansas City, Mo.

Amador and the rest of the prosecution team — including James Fontaine and Dan Owens — contend that Jorge Rojas Lopez became the new “El Palillo” when he took over his brother’s leadership role.

The crimes he and Estrada are accused of committing, or conspiring to commit with others, were motivated by greed and revenge, the prosecutors said.

“It’s not guilt by association just because they knew somebody (involved in the crimes),” Amador told the jury. “It’s guilt by participation.”

Defense attorneys, however, argued that the name “Los Palillos” is an invention of law enforcement. They said the evidence was insufficient to prove that a gang by that name ever operated in San Diego County, or that the defendants were its leaders.

In his closing argument, Garcia repeatedly referred to the prosecutors’ contentions as “fiction” and blasted the prosecution for invoking images of Mafia figures like John Gotti and television gangsters like Tony Soprano.

“That’s myth-building and it’s done to appeal to your emotions,” Garcia told the jury. “To make (the defendants) bigger than they are.”

The defense lawyers also said much of the prosecution’s case relied on testimony from two admitted killers, who agreed to cooperate in the case in exchange for lighter sentences and a chance at parole.

Attorneys Keith Rutman and Al Arena represent Estrada, who is charged in fewer incidents than his co-defendant but accused of a similarly high level of violence.

Rutman argued that the cooperating witnesses “have every motive to lie,” and gave inconsistent statements to authorities on several occasions. Refuting the prosecution’s conspiracy theory, he said the crimes discussed in trial were committed by individual people with individual opportunities and motives.

“There is no Los Palillos,” he said.

Prosecutors have identified 18 people who they say were members of the gang and took part in its crimes. Some have already been convicted, while others await trial.